Ailuk Atoll
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".
Ailuk Atoll (Marshallese: Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:IPAc-mh[1]) is an inhabited coral atoll of 57 islets in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands.
Geography
It is located approximately Script error: No such module "convert". north from Wotje and Script error: No such module "convert". south of Utirik in the northern half of the Ratak chain. It is Script error: No such module "convert". north of Majuro Atoll, the capital of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is Script error: No such module "convert". spread over 57 islets enclosing a lagoon covering Script error: No such module "convert"..
Physical features
The major islets are: Ajelep, Aliej, Ailuk, Alkilwe, Barorkan, Biken, Enejabrok, Enejelar, Kapen and Marib. There are villages on Ailuk and Enejelar.[2] Most of the islets are on the eastern side of the atoll. The western and southern sides of the atoll have a nearly continuous submerged coral reef. Three main passes enter the lagoon through the western reef: Erappu, Marok and Eneneman.
Based on the results of drilling operations on Enewetak (Eniwetok) Atoll, in the nearby Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands, Ailuk may include as much as Script error: No such module "convert". of reef material atop a basalt rock base. As most local coral growth stops at about Script error: No such module "convert". below the ocean surface, such a massive stony coral base suggests a gradual isostatic subsidence of the underlying extinct volcano,[3] which itself rises Script error: No such module "convert". from the surrounding ocean floor. Shallow water fossils taken from just above Enewetak's basalt base are dated to about 55mya.[4]
Climate
The Marshall Islands are positioned within the Northeast Trade Winds belt. During the greater part of the year the prevailing winds are from the north-east to the east.
Ailuk Atoll has a tropical rainforest climate, indicating consistently warm temperatures and high humidity. Temperatures range from Script error: No such module "convert". in April to Script error: No such module "convert". in September, averaging around Script error: No such module "convert"..
Winter rainfall is comparatively modest, with January and February receiving about Script error: No such module "convert". to Script error: No such module "convert".. Spring sees an increase from Script error: No such module "convert". to Script error: No such module "convert".. The wettest months are August through October, increasing from Script error: No such module "convert". to Script error: No such module "convert".. With increased precipitation comes more rainy days, reaching a peak in July with 25 days and longer rainstorms. December drops back to 17 rainy days and shorter showers.
Monthly sunshine ranges from 239 hours in January to 322 hours in July. [5]
| Ailuk Atoll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate chart (explanation) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vegetation
The atoll has been inhabited more or less continuously for 2000 years, and thus there has been considerable modification of islet ecologies.
In the Marshall Islands, higher latitudes correlate to increasing aridity for atolls, decreasing the variety in plant life, including edible species, leading to a decreasing food availability. Almost all households have food crops around their homes and land. Water and soil is the most limiting factor for plant growth especially for cultivated crops in the atolls. Only tree crops like breadfruits, coconuts and pandanus with a few bananas are visible around homes and settlements. Every household have access to these tree crops for daily substance.[6]
The lagoon adjacent portion of eastern islets are planted with coconuts. This is surrounded by a crescent of dense mixed forest, often edged with Pandanus. Guettarda, Pandanus, Tournefortia and Scaevola taccada make up the taller part, next to the Pandanus and coconuts. This slopes seaward (and windward) becoming more of a largely Scaevola scrub. The horns of this forest crescent extend along the passage beaches, usually with Suriana and Pemphis on the margins. The outermost windward land is usually a beaten-down scrub of gnarled Pemphis and Suriana scrub, sometimes with Tournefortia and Scaevola. This extends onto the denuded ocean surf facing part of the islets.[7]
Fauna
Birds
Common resident seabirds include the Red-tailed Tropicbird, Red-footed Booby, Sooty Tern, White Tern, Brown Noddy, and Black Noddy.
Common land birds include the Reef Heron, Golden Plover, Whimbrel, Bristle-thighed Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Wandering Tattler, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, and Long-tailed New Zealand Cuckoo.
Introduced species include the domestic chicken and ground dove.[8]
History
Prehistory
About 2000 years ago, Oceanic speakers who made plainware pottery (late Lapita) and used shell adzes, fishhooks, and other implements migrated from the Solomon Islands to found settlements on several volcanic islands of central Micronesia (Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae), and colonize the atolls of the Marshall Islands.[9]
16th to 19th Century
First recorded sighting of Ailuk Atoll by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi on 10 January 1565. It was charted as Los Placeres (The Pleasures in Spanish).[10][11] Two of its islets were charted as San Pedro and San Pablo, those being the names of the flagship ("capitana") and the "almiranta" (secondary ship or ship of the Admiral)[12]
Ailuk Atoll was claimed by the German Empire along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1885.[13]
20th century to present
After World War I, the island came under the South Seas Mandate of the Empire of Japan. Following the end of World War II, it came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands until the independence of the Marshall Islands in 1986.
In December 2020, Marshall Islands police found an abandoned 5.5-meter (18-foot) fibreglass boat that washed ashore at Ailuk Atoll with 649 kilograms (1,430 pounds) of cocaine worth an estimated US$80 million. This was the largest drug haul in Marshall Islands history.[14]
Demographics
Ailuk Atoll had a population of 235 in 2021.[15]
Infrastructure
Transportation
There is a pier and an airstrip on Ailuk islet.[16] The atoll is unique among the Marshall Islands in still commonly using sailing outrigger canoes for local inter islet transportation and fishing, sparing the residents dependence on infrequent fuel and spare part resupply.[17][18]
Services
There are medical facilities on both Ailuk and Enejelar. Ailuk has mobile phone accessibility, but no internet access. All households in both communities have solar power for lighting. Less than 50% use theirs for refrigeration, with the rest using the public school’s solar power. The Ailuk City Hall provides a space for community meetings and some basic administrative services.[19]
Education
Marshall Islands Public School System operates public schools:[20]
- Ailuk Elementary School
- Enejelar Elementary School
Northern Islands High School on Wotje serves the community.[21]
Footnotes
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Marshallese-English Dictionary - Place Name Index
- ↑ National Adaptation Plan Community Engagement Summary Report, Ailuk Atoll
- ↑ Geoscience Research Institute
- ↑ Atoll Research Bulletin No. 260
- ↑ nomadseason
- ↑ Agricultural Assessment Ailuk Atoll 2018
- ↑ A Review of the Natural History of the Marshall Islands
- ↑ A Review of the Natural History of the Marshall Islands
- ↑ University of California, Berkeley, Archaeological Research Facility
- ↑ Sharp, Andrew The discovery of the Pacific Islands Oxford, 1960, p.38.
- ↑ Brand, Donald D. The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.129.
- ↑ Coello, Francisco "Conflicto hispano-alemán" Boletín de Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid, t.XIX. 2º semestre 1885, Madrid, p.286
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ National Adaptation Plan Community Engagement Summary Report, Ailuk Atoll
- ↑ Traditional Sailing Canoes in Ailuk Atoll
- ↑ The Sailing Canoes of Ailuk Atoll
- ↑ National Adaptation Plan Community Engagement Summary Report, Ailuk Atoll
- ↑ "Public Schools Template:Webarchive." Marshall Islands Public School System. Retrieved on February 21, 2018.
- ↑ "Annual Report 2011-2012 Template:Webarchive." Ministry of Education (Marshall Islands). Retrieved on February 22, 2018. p. 54 (PDF p. 55/118). "Northern Islands High School takes students from the Ratak Ean zone including schools in Aur, Maloelap, Wotje, Ailuk, Utrik, Likiep and Mejit."
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
External links
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Archaeological and Anthropological Survey of Ailuk Atoll
See also
Script error: No such module "Portal".